Confederations Cup is bandwidth-ready

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 05 Sept 2008

The 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) is ready to provide the bandwidth needed for the Fifa Confederations Cup (FCC) 2009, it says.

The LOC has been working with Telkom to ensure all the TV compounds, at the Confederations Cup venues, will be cabled and have sufficient bandwidth.

"Most of the six FCC stadiums have been cabled and we are working closely with Telkom to ensure the rest will be connected before the Confederations Cup kicks off next year," says 2010 LOC chief IT and telecommunications officer Phumlani Moholi.

Last month, Telkom announced it would have the required capacity installed for the FCC and broadcast signals would be sent via Telkom's SAT-3 cable, on the West Coast, and its South African Far East Cable that runs out of Durban.

Moholi explains that, for events such as the 2010 Fifa World Cup Soccer finals and the FCC, a lot of redundancy is needed to carry the video feed from the stadiums to the central aggregator, which would be the international broadcasting centre (IBC).

Mini IBCs for FCC

The LOC says the IBC will only be ready for 2010, because it was not intended for the FCC. Mobile TV compounds will instead be used during the FCC next year.

Moholi explains that these are scaled down versions of the IBC that will be built opposite Soccer City.

"Each stadium being used during the FCC will have a TV compound, which will be equipped with an outside broadcasting van, satellite facilities and all the equipment needed to broadcast the games," says Moholi.

IBC land set aside

The LOC says more than 30 000m²of land has been earmarked for the IBC, which will house around 2 000 broadcast journalists during the World Cup finals.

"We have to ensure there will be enough space for the broadcasters, the equipment they will be using, and the services they need," Moholi says.

"The IBC will be equipped with video adapters that will convert the feeds, from the stadiums, into digital signals that will be sent out worldwide."

Telkom group executive for multinational customers Thami Magazi says that, for the 10 stadiums being built for 2010, Fifa requires 40GB cabling capacity and 20GB as redundancy. The FCC will only use 10% of this, he explains.

Gartner says the upgrades to the existing undersea cables would provide between 170GB and 300GB. Gartner analyst Will Hahn says the FCC can be seen as a dress rehearsal for 2010.

"If the preliminary draw was a tech-rehearsal, showing that some of the basic support elements for broadcast are in place and seem to work, then the FCC - where real teams will come to town and play actual soccer ‑ would have to be a dress rehearsal," he notes.